


Finley

by Acidwrites



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Finn-centric, Finnrey, Force-Sensitive Finn, Gen, Jedi Rey, Origin Story, Original Character(s), Phasma Ships It, Post-Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Star Wars: The Force Awakens Spoilers, finnreyfriday, finnreyfridays
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-25
Updated: 2017-02-25
Packaged: 2018-09-26 19:44:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,076
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9919301
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Acidwrites/pseuds/Acidwrites
Summary: Months after the events of The Force Awakens Luke and Rey return to D'Qar and to the Resistance. Luke immediately recognizes the presence of another force sensitive person at the base: Finn. After several weeks of training the two young padawans are dispatched to  Chandrila to locate an abandoned Jedi temple lost in time. Their goal is to retrieve the components of what will eventually become Finn's lightsaber.The two successfully locate the temple and the components but are confronted by Phasma and a group of stormtroopers before they can get to the Millennium Falcon and escape.





	

Rey could see the daylight flowing in from the entrance of the sunken temple. She squeezed Finn’s hand in anticipation reassuring him their adventure was almost over. They had spent the last few days searching for the cave that served as the only entrance to the forgotten structure, which was now all but reclaimed by a shift in Chandrila’s tectonic plates and overgrowth of the lush environment. A faded picture of the temple from the New Republic archives was all they had to work from as she and Finn scoured Hanna City and the nearby Junari Point settlement for information on the temple's whereabouts. The two looked at each other in the light and smiled, relishing in the fact they no longer had to navigate the dark recesses of the temple by torch light. 

Chandrila itself was a beautiful blue green marble similar to Takodona . Rey had watched in awe as the Millennium Falcon approached the surface bringing vast green swaths of land bordered by large bodies of water into focus. Rolling hills covered in grass and clear blue tributaries sparkled in her eyes, Finn noticed, watching her take in the absolute beauty of the environment before them. 

There was a stark contrast between that point and the past few hours of the journey. 

Inside the Jedi temple was noticeably colder than the surface of the planet. The air was stagnant and the dust that was fussed by their hurried footfalls hung in the air for several moments before slowly floating back to the ground. Rey had an uneasy feeling down there like the moment she followed the voice to the storage area of Maz’s Cantina. In the silence between their muted breaths, she noticed the whispers of Jedi past could be heard. They debated the two young padawans worthiness as heirs of the Jedi Order. They questioned their devotion to the teachings and their way of life. As the two approached the light flooding the entrance of the cave, Rey’s unsettling feeling of being watched faded and was completely quashed by the sight of Finn’s bright smile and the squeeze he excitedly returned to her hand.

Together they had made it through another test.

Just as they scrambled down the steps of the temple into the cave four silhouetted figures emerged from the light in front of them. 

“Halt!” A tinny, robotic voice called out.

Finn immediately recognized the voice and the gleaming metallic armour less than a dozen feet away. He positioned himself in front of Rey instinctively even though she was in a better position to defend them with her free hand and her lightsaber at her hip. His blaster was slung over his shoulder freeing up his one hand to carry the bag of components while he had been holding Rey’s hand in his other.

“Phasma...” Finn exhaled between sharp breaths. The silvery armoured stormtrooper Captain of the First Order stood tall above them flanked by three other stormtroopers dressed in pristine white armour. Their blasters were drawn and aimed at the two. Finn released his grip on Rey’s hand to ball his fist.

“FN-2187” She lowered her blaster slightly. “I knew Ren had failed to kill you back on Starkiller. Throw down your weapons and the Kyber crystals you pillaged from this temple or I will show no mercy.”

“You don’t know anything about mercy!” Finn roared, surprising even Rey.

“Finn...” she whispered, taking her gaze off of the First Order troops in front of them to look over the man she adored. Something about this encounter had him more tense than she’d ever seen him. “You will drop your weapons and let us walk out of here unharmed.” She called out, fixing her gaze on the silhouettes.

“Amateur... your tricks will not work on me.” Phasma hissed, pointing her rifle at Rey. “You have until the count of three to comply. One...”

“YOU WILL DROP YOUR WEAPONS AND L...” Rey began again, this time more urgency in her voice.

“TWO!”

“YOU WILL DROP YOUR WEAPONS-“ 

Just as the fifth word left her stormtrooper designate KD-2243 standing to the right of Phasma dropped his blaster. Upon contact with the ground the rifle fired, the blast angled slightly upward over Finn’s right shoulder. Loosened rocks and boulders began to fall in a cloud of dust and debris shrouding the two. 

“FOOL!” Phasma backhanded KD-2243 with enough force to knock his helmet slightly ajar. “You could have collapsed this cave on all of us! Retrieve your weapon and secure the perimeter.” She motioned to KD-2243, but swept her gaze to her left at the other two stormtroopers. “I will take care of things here. Go. All of you.” Her voice echoed in the cave as the dust settled.

Finn had begun to react before the blaster hit the ground but he wasn’t able to avoid the fist-sized rock that hit him in the back of the head as he tackled Rey out of the way. He lay partially on top of her in a heap of limbs, dust and stone. “Finn!” Rey blurted out, noticing his eyes were pressed shut. “Oh no, no...” Rey began frantically pushing the debris off of them. She scrambled to her knees and pulled Finn close to her, cradling his face in her hands. Tears began welling in her eyes as she realized there was blood running down the back of his neck from an open gash on the back of his head. 

The sound of pebbles and stones being crunched under boots ignited a flame in her. She quickly pivoted to her side and drew her lightsaber in her left hand. Kneeling and still holding Finn close to her body with her right hand, Rey aimed the crackling blueish-white blade a mere inch from Phasma’s face. A sharp featured, pale face with icy grey eyes stared down at her. White hair was slicked back into a tight bun not visible from her position. Rey flinched but continued to point the blade at her for a long moment before either of them spoke.

“Is he okay?” 

The softness in her voice was a surprise to Rey but she maintained her ferocious expression, baring all of her teeth behind her thin lips. “As if you care.”

“Please-” She said, her voice faint. “He’s my son.”

***

“Well... not biologically my son.” Phasma started, slowly touching the glass that separated the hallway and Finn’s room at the medical facility in Hanna City. Even without wearing the helmet she held at her side she towered over Rey as they stood next to each other. Phasma’s face was tired and the wrinkles around her mouth and chin became deep ridges as she frowned.

Rey watched her as she spoke. Her eyes pleading with Phasma to explain the events of the past half hour. With her help they had carried Finn’s body to the Falcon and quickly returned to the city. She removed her helmet in the cave allowing Rey to search her thoughts for confirmation that she indeed thought of Finn as her own. However Rey stopped there, opting to hear the rest from Phasma herself. She didn’t like spending time in the minds of others. Sometimes their pain and grief could be overwhelming. The two spent the last thirty minutes in relative silence.

“Many years ago I was sent to raze a settlement on a planetary outpost orbiting Hosnian Prime. We were meant to destabilize talks between the Rebels and the Galactic Council. I carried out my directive with the utmost expediency however I was injured and was informed that I had been rendered barren by the surgery to correct my damaged spine.” Her head sagged and tendrils of her now loose hair covered parts of her face. “I let my emotions get the best of me shortly thereafter. The clone program had been disbanded in the years prior and the First Order required a new source for the battalions of stormtroopers needed to rise from ashes of the Empire. We began raiding orphanages and child care institutions all over the galaxy. On one particular raid in the Outer Rim territories the Knights of the First Order, predecessors to the Knights of Ren, accompanied my squadron as protection from rebel interlopers. The raid was in progress when we got word that rebels had successfully downed a Star Destroyer orbiting a small desert planet named Jakku...”

Mention of the planet she spent most of her young life on shocked Rey. “Jakku?...” She repeated, thinking of the interconnectedness of these events. The only Star Destroyer to go down on Jakku had been her livelihood for years. She was beginning to realize more and more that her meeting with Finn that day on Jakku was fate.

“A tiny, irrelevant dust ball halfway across the galaxy.” Phasma glanced at her before returning her gaze to Finn. His chest slowly rose and fell in unison with flares of his nostrils. “The Knights were furious they had been deployed alongside my squad and not where they could have made a difference. They said they would not be made into baby sitters... they burned the orphanage to the ground.” Rey noticed the quake in her voice. “I was only able to save four of them: FN-2199, FN-2003, FN-2000 and FN-2187. Or as I named them: Tanner, Cecil, Lucas and...” She touched the glass again, this time with a smile creeping across her face. “Finley.”

“Finley...” Rey tested the name on her tongue. ‘That works’ she thought grinning at Finn.

“I knew from the moment I laid my eyes on him he was special. Before I walked into the nursery one night and saw his rattler and soother dance in the air above his head. Or the day he spoke his first words directly into my mind.” Phasma grinned again. “I could never recondition this boy. He and the others gave me experiences of motherhood that I would never want wiped from either of our memories. When they were no longer toddlers I began wearing this helmet and my armour in their presence at all times. Mostly to hide my joyous expression or body language when they accomplished something or my anguish when they were injured somehow. People were beginning to notice that I favoured them. They began to ask questions and I took a more calloused, disciplinary approach. By the time they were teenagers they hated me.” Her grin disappeared.

“You nurtured them.” Rey shifted her gaze to Finn. “You protected them.”

“Until I couldn’t.” Phasma’s expression returned to the solemn one she wore for the duration of the trip to the medical facility. “FN-2003 was killed on Jakku. FN-2199 was killed on Takodona days later. And FN-2000 died when Starkiller Base was destroyed.” Her shoulders sagged under the weight of what she just said. There was a moment of silence as the two remembered the events of that day. The loses on both sides were substantial. 

Phasma turned to Rey. “Finley is my only family now. I love him dearly and I can sense that you do too.” She placed a hand on Rey’s shoulder and studied her face. “Please take care of him. I would like to tell him these truths myself one day.”

Rey nodded slowly. “I will. I promise.”

Phasma strode past her and into Finn’s room. She stood for a moment before taking Finn’s hand in hers and pressing a light kiss to the bandages that wrapped around his head. She lingered there for another moment before releasing her grip and making her way back out into the hallway. As she pivoted and headed to the door, Rey could hear a garbled transmission coming from Phasma’s helmet. 

“zzzkkzz... Capt... zzkzz... Captain Phas... zzkzz... please reportzzk” the voice was silenced after she lifted the helmet and placed it on her head. She didn’t turn back as she left the corridor.

***

“Rey...”

Her eyes flickered open. The small room was awash in the pale purple and orange hues of the twilight sunset. It came into view sideways until she sat up, taking her head off of Finn’s shoulder. She had his jacket draped over her as she slept, splayed over a visitor’s chair and Finn’s bed. Rey turned and met his gaze, both of them with sleepy eyes behind half closed eyelids.

“Finley...” She returned the smile he showed her. 

They sat quietly for a moment before he rasped. “Wait. W-what did you just call me?”


End file.
